Abraham Lincoln• Created the Emancipation

Proclamation in 1863, which led to the dissolution of slavery in America.

• Words from Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address, with a “new birth of freedom.”

• Born in a log cabin in Larue County, Kentucky.

• During his younger years, Lincoln received little formal schooling.

• At age 22, he left home and worked for a trader taking a flatboat down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans.

Frontier Youth

The Rise of Lincoln• In 1834, he ran in his first

political race for the state legislature and won, serving four terms as a Whig.

• “A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free… It will become all one thing, or all the other.”

• Lincoln hated slavery and resisted its movement into free territories.

Presidency of Lincoln• In the days that followed Lincoln’s election, the country

began to fall apart at the seams.• In all, 11 states left the Union by early summer. Difficult

days lay ahead for President Lincoln.• Some of Lincoln’s early decisions were controversial. He

authorized military spending before Congress approved. He arrested alleged Confederate sympathizers and held them without trial.

• Lincoln gave in to everyone’s expectations and the Union and Confederate troops faced one another in the first battle of Bull Run on July 21, 1861.

Lincoln and the Civil War• Issued the Emancipation Proclamation: Declared

that all slaves in all rebellious or seceded states were to be freed as of January 1, 1863. This noble document did not attempt to end slavery but it did change the motivations for the war.• War was fought for two reasons now: 1.Restoring the Union2.Abolishing Slavery• By 1865, Congress ratified the 13th Amendment

to the U.S. Constitution, ending slavery in America.

• After the successful northern victory at Gettysburg, Lincoln attended the dedication of a national cemetery in the small, Pennsylvania town.

• There he delivered his Gettysburg Address, explaining that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom.

• With this speech, Americans began to think of their country as a nation rather than as a union.

• No longer would any state seriously consider secession from the United States.

Gettysburg Address

Facts of Lincoln’s Presidency• Over 600,000 men of both sides sided during the

Civil War.• Lincoln used the railroad as a secret weapon

moving men and supplies to the front lines.• The telegraph was used to send messages back

and forth to generals. Lincoln was the first President to use his commander in chief powers in making battle decisions.• Civil War was the first war to take place after the

industrial revolution.• Bloodiest war in American history.